Free The Delacourt Scandal by Sherryl Woods

sure you won that particular battle, after all?”
    He appeared to take the suggestion in stride. “Dad’s certainly devious enough to try something like that, but this was a real crisis. Believe me, I checked it out thoroughly just to be sure. As for Michael, he said he’d be on the next plane home if I gave him the word.”
    “Why didn’t you, then?”
    “How could I do it? Michael works too hard. We’ve badgered him for years about not taking any vacation time. In fact, we’ve pulled some very sneaky tricks to get him to take a little time off. So I’m willing to pitch in for a week or two if it gives him a much-deserved break. Who knows when he’ll get around to taking another one, though Grace seems to be a good influence on him. She’s fiercely determined to put some balance into his life.”
    Maddie looked at him in silence.
    He shrugged. “Bottom line? I’m stuck here for a few days, and for once it wasn’t something my father did deliberately to sabotage my plans to leave.”
    Maddie was surprised that he took her comment so seriously. “I was actually kidding. But you really don’t trust your own father, do you?”
    “No farther than I could throw him,” he admitted candidly.
    “Why not?” she asked, trying not to sound too eager. She could get a lot of mileage out of a rift in the family.
    “Because when it comes to getting his way, he is a very sneaky man, especially where family’s concerned. His heart’s always in the right place, but you wouldn’t believe some of the stunts he’s pulled.”
    “Tell me.”
    Tyler shook his head. “Family secrets. You’ll have to ask Jeb and Trish and the others when you meet them. They love telling tales on Dad.”
    The thought of meeting other members of the Delacourt family filled her with more trepidation than she’d expected. If the rest of them were as kind and decent as Tyler, how would she ever bring herself to write a story that might wreck their lives?
    “I doubt we’ll meet,” she said eventually.
    Tyler’s gaze locked on hers. He looked as if he were waging some sort of an internal struggle. Finally he said in a tone she couldn’t quite interpret, “Oh, something tells me you will, Maddie Kent.”
     
    Tyler finally came to accept that Maddie was going to pop up whenever and wherever he least expected her. In fact, he was beginning to enjoy her unexpected appearances.
    There was something about her that got to him. The woman had a million and one questions, but she listened attentively to each response in a way that was extremely flattering. No one except Jen had ever listened quite so closely to anything Tyler had to say.
    Heaven knew his father didn’t pay any attention. Even after they’d reached their agreement about Tyler’s return to Baton Rouge, his father was still taking every opportunity to keep him in town. Maddie had been right about that. The crises did exist, but even with Michael away, his father could have handled most of them on his own. Tyler had given in and stayed, at least in part because doing so gave him a little more time to get to know the mysterious Maddie.
    There was no doubt the woman fascinated him as no one had since Jen. Despite her resilient, ever-cheerful, ever-perky demeanor, there was an unmistakable sorrow lurking in the depths of her eyes. That hint of vulnerability brought out all of his protective instincts.
    Then, too, there was the disturbing memory of that bone-melting kiss on the deck at the beach. Even though he was ashamed of the way he’d taken advantage of her, he couldn’t seem to forget how her mouth had felt under his, how her body had responded. He spent a lot of time fantasizing about how that night could have ended. One day, when the time was right, he expected to turn that fantasy into reality. Then he would discover once and for all if that moment had been a fluke.
    The phone on his desk rang, shattering the tantalizing illusion. Just as well, he thought as he reached for the